South Shore communities race to repair damage, prepare for new storm

Wednesday

Coastal communities were scrambling to protect waterfront residences from flooding and power failures, as the second of two nor'easters since Friday laid another punch on the region.

A winter storm hit late Wednesday, less than a week after extreme weather devastated much of the region last weekend. The second storm was predicted to be less forceful, but forecasters said the first storm has left the area vulnerable.

"It's what we would normally consider minor flooding potential, but in those areas where the seawall has been breached it could be bad," Bill Simpson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton, said.

The storm was expected to peak around 3:45 a.m. today, coinciding with high tide, 20-foot waves and a 3-foot storm surge along the coast from Quincy to Plymouth. Many seawalls, which provide the only protection for waterfront homes, took a beating over the weekend and local public works departments were working Wednesday to make repairs.

In Marshfield, seawalls were breached in four places on Bay Avenue and Ocean Street on Friday. Public works Superintendent Tom Reynolds said the town hasn't been able to make many repairs because the water line hasn't receded since the first storm.

"There is really not a lot we can do there because we haven't been able to get on the beach," he said. "The ocean is coming over the sea wall two to three hours before high tide and it’s not going anywhere."

Public works crews Wednesday were back filling the holes in the seawall and waiting on a delivery of 5- to 8-tons of armour stones from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

“That’s not going to be good for our cleanup efforts and the buildings that are already damaged,” Marshfield Harbormaster Mike DiMeo said. “We aren’t going to get much relief until the winds shift to the northwest around Thursday afternoon.”

In Duxbury, 200 feet of seawall, mostly along Bay Avenue, broke down during last week's storm. On Wednesday, private contractors were filling the holes with stone in hopes of getting through high tide early Thursday morning.

Scituate was also struggling on Wednesday to prepare for the coming storm as it dealt with a 50-foot break in one of its seawalls along Surfside Road. On Tuesday night, selectmen approved a $62,487 emergency repair to fix the seawall.

“It broke in half basically,” Scituate public works Director Kevin Cafferty said. “We’ve cleaned up the area and placed lots of armour stones to try to break up the velocity of the water that tries to come over (Thursday).”

Cafferty said there may have been a few smaller seawall breaks around town, but crews haven't been able to fully asses the damage because of high water.

Away from the coast, the biggest concerns were overnight winds and wet snow bringing down trees and power lines weakened in the last storm.

"We're always concerned about power and trees that are hanging in the vicinity of power lines," Simpson said. "All the trees that are damaged or leaning would come down with heavy snow, so we're praying we don't get that."

In Quincy, assessment efforts were under way Wednesday. Bob Stolze, a member of the American Red Cross’ Disaster Assessment team, walked up and down Shellton Road to note damage to the houses there from last week’s nor’easter.

“We go around getting information to help decide where to set up shelters, where to go with our trucks and deliver food and supplies,” he said.

The team also identifies homes so heavily damaged that families will require long-term help, he said.

The Red Cross will have two Recovery Resource Centers set up in the area this week. The first will be open from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. on today and from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, at Quincy Park and Forestry Department, 1 Merrymount Parkway, Quincy. The second will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdayand 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday at Martinson Elementary School, Marshfield.